“Vermontasaurus” is a 25-foot tall, 122-foot-long dinosaur built by Brian Boland. The creation was thrown together using scrap wood by Boland but it faces extinction if a permit isn’t attained.

“They should leave me alone. It’s a piece of artwork,” he said.

Boland is a former teacher, hot-air balloon designer and pilot who runs the Post Mills Airport, a 52-acre airfield.

Last month, he decided to turn a pile of broken wooden planks and other detritus on the edge of his property into something more. Boland says the idea was to build a structure that could be a community gathering place, with no admission and no commercial element.

The Vermont man used a dinosaur as his inspiration and with the help of volunteers he set out to accomplish his goal.

“It’s an interesting piece of art, but personally, I don’t find it all that appealing,” said neighbor Mary Wilson, who lives down the street and wishes it could be removed. “It looked pretty neat. But when you look at it now, it looks like a messy piece of art.”

Dirk Koppers, 40, who lives next door to Wilson, does not share her opinion.

“It shows such creativity,” he said. “You just don’t go to places and be surprised anymore. Everything’s always so controlled or so governed.”

On that note, government officials do not see the “beauty” in Boland’s creation.

The Town of Thetford told Boland his sculpture was really a structure and that he needed a $272 permit for it.

The state Division of Fire Safety, meanwhile, told Boland that if he couldn’t get a structural engineer to attest to the sculpture’s safety, he could not allow people to congregate underneath it. Boland has since wound a strap around the legs to keep people from walking under the belly of the creation.

Boland says he’s been told he might have to dismantle it entirely.

In the meantime, he has won cheers from passers-by, some of whom drive up to take pictures. It was an onlooker from Boston who dubbed it “Vermontasaurus,” which Boland has adopted as the structure’s name.